Location: Pittsburg, PA
Areas of Expertise:
Missional leadership in worship
Vision casting
Strategy
Organization and teaching
B.J. Woodworth was the founding pastor of the Open Door, an urban Presbyterian Church (USA) missional community in Pittsburgh, PA. Now he's attempting to slow down to invest in the interior lives of Christian leaders. He is a spiritual director, coach and retreat leader and serves part time at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, as Director of Spiritual Life Ministries and Taize Minister. He loves to create space for people to attend to their interior lives, helping them awaken to their true self and inner wisdom in order to bear fruit in their lives and work. He has a particular interest in accompanying people in professional ministry, entrepreneurs, and those in service and justice work helping them establish sacred patterns of rest, renewal and reflection. He enjoys companioning those in vocational discernment and the journey of de/reconstructing faith.
His spiritual direction training is from the Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction, which focuses on “the ancient art of Christian spiritual direction in a multi-faith context.” B.J. has coached church planters across a variety of denominations and contexts, he has taught at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in the Spiritual Formation Certificate Program and is the Missional Leadership DMin cohort facilitator. He has a certificate in Spiritual Transformation from the Transforming Center, where he currently serves on the board and as community pastor in Transforming Community #15. Currently he lives in Pittsburgh with his wife Katrina, who is a hatha yoga instructor, yoga therapist and retreat leader. They have 4 children in their late teens and early twenties, Kyra, Elena, Alex and Zach.